Archive for April, 2012

Trade Minister Craig Emerson says Ms Gillard has Labor’s full support.
“Her job is safe because she is a leader with gutsy determination,” he told Sky News today, adding there was “zero disquiet within caucus over Ms Gillard’s decision- making.”

Does this show how out of touch they are with the electorate?

A poll from the Herald Sun today asks:

Do you support an early election?

Yes 94.79% (2695 votes)

No 5.21% (148 votes)

Will the Gillard Government survive 2012?

Yes 9.29% (381 votes)

No 90.71% (3721 votes)

Even in a poll of Age readers, 82% say she should quit.

This is simply a waiting game now.

[Thanks to reader Andrew]

UPDATE

According to a Newspoll conducted exclusively for The Australian, Labor’s primary vote has fallen two points in the past fortnight to 27 per cent while the Coalition’s primary vote has climbed three points to 51 per cent.

This is at its highest level since John Howard campaigned on border security in 2001.

Newspoll also found the Coalition held an election-winning lead of 59 per cent to 41 per cent in two-party-preferred terms – up from 56 per cent to 44 per cent a fortnight earlier.

The ABC, in a much publicised stunt to “debate” climate change, with warmist Tony Jones and QandA, and titled I Can Change Your Mind About Climate Change, had its traditional stacked panel and the inevitable planned gotcha moment:

an outrageously parti-pris greenie moderator, a greenie “social researcher” (whatever that is), a greenie youth activist, the head of the ultra-greenie, even-worse-than-the-Royal-Society CSIR[O] and two more greenie plants in the audience.

To top off Delingpole’s visit, he himself experiences the depth of the ABC’s bigotry in an interview with one of the lions of left orthodoxy in Melbourne.

The only fly in the ointment so far has been a beardie, leftie irritant on Melbourne radio (ABC: where else?) called John somebodyorother who kept interrupting me and protesting– rather too much I thought – what a consummate professional he was. I keep forgetting his name.

Hint for James. John is spelled JON.

Shamelessly, the interviewer in question insisted he was just bravely and fiercly going about his professional duty to question all sides of the debate. Yeah, that’s right. Just like he did with one of his favs last year.

It is instructive to listen to both interviews, just to compare how even-handed and professional he is with his interrupting.

UK journalist Rodd Liddle points to the aversion in Western society for competition in the name of inclusiveness. It comes, he says, from a Left liberal confusion between the terms elitism and privilege, as when recently Trenton Oldfield, “the smirking Australian”, confused his own privileged position with elitism, mindlessly interupting the Oxford Cambridge boat race.

At my daughter’s school last year, the 50m sprint took the following form: all the kids lined up and ran as fast as they could to the halfway point. Then they waited for the fatties to catch up and, holding hands, all walked or trotted to the finish line, where everyone received an identical token.

He says this attitude cannot auger well for the British Olympics.

The official propaganda insists that this costly jamboree is not about the physical excellence of the elite competitors but is instead an ‘inclusive’ event, something in which we can all take part and all be winners.

This is either self-destructive madness or cynical tokenism to buy into the UN Security Council. Not content with attempting to undermine Australia with the introduction of a carbon tax — a deeply unpopular policy — the Gillard government is wanting us to be hauled before the International Court of Justice to shame her own country. This is quite insane and irresponsible and clearly not in Australia’s national interest. It shows the Prime Minister is prepared to betray Australia for her own policy goals.

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has volunteered Australia to give evidence on behalf of poor nations that want the United Nations to investigate if big emitters – potentially including Australia – have a legal responsibility to keep their greenhouse gases from hurting other countries.

Australia would give evidence supporting a push led by Palau for a UN resolution asking the International Court of Justice to assess how much countries were responsible for the damage their emissions did overseas.

Climate law experts said that if the resolution was successful, it could be the first step by worst-affected nations in seeking reparations from countries such as the US, China and Australia.

A delegation of foreign journalists went to the Alawite neighbourhoods of Homs. Expecting to see peaceful demonstrations, they saw security forces under siege from unidentified gunmen, and impact damage from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). They were able to gather testimonials from the local populace who had suffered atrocities at the hands of the insurgents, but “they did not publish these facts on their return, fearing they would be criticised by the mainstream media for breaking with the generally accepted narrative”.

The Syrian model of an Arab society offends extremist and closed Muslim societies. It now seems to offend the USA and its allies. If they have their way, it will disappear along with the Assad regime. That will be a sad day for the Middle East, and a worse one for the Western powers, who will have unleashed an uncertain future on millions of defenceless non-Muslims and non-extremist Muslims.